Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Law Enforcement and Political Activism

It's good to have
heroes. People whom you can look up to
and pattern yourself after as you move through life. It's fairly obvious that Pinal County Sheriff
Paul Babeu has a hero in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and possibly Rush
Limbaugh.

In the latest episode of "Babeu
on Immigration" we find the Pinal county Sheriff bemoaning what he calls "Roadside
amnesty"

The Pinal County Sheriff
had this to say to local news outlets today.

"Within hours of the
U.S. Supreme Court Justices upholding the main portion of Arizona's SB1070 law, President Obama and
Janet Napolitano, with a wave of their hands, have made what was illegal one
day, legal the next. They can't pass their dream act, so they change
enforcement policies, which undermines the rule of law,"

He goes on to cite an
alleged incident involving a 17 year old stopped for exceeding the speed limit
by 50MPH. Apparently the teen had no
driver's license or other identification because he was an undocumented
immigrant.

The Sheriff contacted U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but found no interest in the teen
since he had been in the country for most of his life. ICE does not consider this type of
"illegal immigrant" a priority
focusing instead on recent and repeat border crossers, those over 30 years of
age and felony offenders.

Babeu holds President
Obama and DHS Head Napolitano to blame for having to release the young offender
to his mother's custody with a citation instead of turning him over to ICE for
deportation.

Babeu cites the revoking
of the 287G agreements between DHS and local law enforcement as the root
cause.

The 287G
agreements allowed local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law
and hold offenders in custody. With the
SB1070 supreme court decision, DHS terminated the agreements which in Babeu's
view allows "illegal immigrants" like the aforementioned teen to go
free.

Babeu continues...

"The President fails
to understand the...impact created by his decision to not enforce immigration
laws..........What other laws will the President wave and not enforce?"

Conservative pundits often
cite the reason that Gitmo detainees could not be brought to U.S. soil is because they may gain the same
constitutional protections as U.S.
citizens such as a right to jury trial and counsel. Which begs the question, exactly what laws
isn't Sheriff Babeu able to enforce? The
laws that exist or the laws that he'd like to exist?

The teen in question was
arrested in Sheriff Babeu's county which at last check was well within the
confines of the United States. It's likely that along with the criminal
speeding offense, a laundry list of other charges await the teen unless he
happens to have a parent who belongs to the Mexican consulate. He was arrested while traveling to work so
that's unlikely.

Law enforcement's primary
responsibility is to enforce existing laws, regardless of political bias or
opinion.

While the prospect of
activists judges is frightening, activist law enforcement is even more so. Like Arpaio it appears Babeu has no qualm
with using his position as a political platform. In some cases, tragically as in his recent misinterpretation
of a murder/suicide as a drug cartel assassination.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of
Maricopa county Arizona has done a stellar job of self promotion for the past 3
decades and it appears Pinal county's Sheriff is looking to get in on the
act. Nothing garners more press
attention than a public persona emphasizing political extremes that border on a
circus sideshow.

It's likely you don't know
the names or political positions of Arizona's
other 13 county sheriffs, perhaps that's the way it should be.